power to make a complete extirpation of herefy; for the opi nions of Wickliff had been fo univerfally spread over the nation, that a writer of thofe times tells us, that if you met two perfons upon the road, you might be fure that one of them was a Lollard, or follower of Wickliff.

Whilft thefe things were tranfacting in England, the diffention between the two Popes continued. Pope Urban had publifhed a bull, in which he called upon all thofe who had any regard for religion, to exert themselves in its defence, by taking up arms for him against Clement and his adherents ; and promifing, for the encouragement of the faithful, the fame pardon and indulgences which had been always granted to those who loft their lives in the holy wars. This bull met with confiderable encouragement in England, on account of Urban's having chofen an English ecclefiaftic for his general. This was Henry Spencer, bishop of Norwich; who is defcribed by Fox, as

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young and ftout prelate, fitter for the camping cure, than for "the peaceable church of Chrift." And this reverend warrior having obtained an aid from the English parliament, and made his levies, fet out upon his expedition, full of ardour, and of holy zeal. A war, in which the name of religion was thus prostituted, roufed the indignation of Dr. Wickliff, though now in the decline of life. He once more, therefore, took up his pen, and wrote against it with great fpirit. In a very free manner he expoftulated with the Pope, and boldly asked him, "How he durft make the token of Chrift on the crofs, (which is a token of peace, mercy, and charity,) a banner to lead on to flay Chriftian men, for the love of two falfe priests? and to opprefs Christendom, worfe than Chrift and his apoftles were oppreffed by the Jews. When (faid he) will the proud priest of Rome grant indulgences to mankind to live in peace and charity, as he now does to fight and flay one another?" This fevere and fpirited piece drew upon Dr. Wickliff the refentment of Urban, and might probably have involved him in greater troubles than he had hitherto experienced: But foon after the publication of this treatife, he was ftruck with a pally; and though he lived fome time, yet it was in fuch a way that his enemies now thought him below their refentment. He attended divine worship to the laft; and received the fatal ftroke of his diforder in his church at Lutterworth, in the year 1384.

Thus ended the life of John Wickliff; who, for his fuperior penetration, the juftnefs of his fentiments, and the undaunted fpirit with which he engaged in the great caufe of religious liberty, was a real honour to his country. Wickliff appears to have been a man of exemplary piety, and unblemished morals; and notwithstanding the number and vigilance of his enemies, they have none of them prefumed to tax him with any immoralities. But though in his private character he appears to have been very respectable, yet it is his public character which prin

cipally

cipally entitles him to our attention and regard. In an age of ignorance and fuperftition, he let in fuch a radiance of light, that all the arts of the Romish church, and all the terrors of perfecution, could never afterwards totally obfcure it. And the pro pagation of his opinions had certainly the happiest effect in promoting that reformation, which afterwards delivered this kingdom from ignorance, fuperftition, and ecclefiaftical tyranny. By every true proteftant, therefore, the memory of Wickliff will ever be held in the higheft honour. And the example of thofe illuftrious men, who have nobly and fearlessly laboured in the cause of truth and liberty, ought to animate us to exert ourselves to prevent any attempts which may be made, by the zealous and indefatigable adherents of Popery, to involve us once more in the darkness and bondage of Romish superstition.

Having thus concluded the life of this celebrated Reformer, it may not be improper to give a more particular account of his opinions, than could pertinently be introduced into the course of this narration.

The following is a fummary of his principal opinions, collected either from his own words, or fairly deduced from them. With respect to the church, he did not approve of applying the words church and churchmen merely to the clergy, who were frequently men of bad lives, and therefore he thought fuch appli cation a vile prostitution of those facred names. Befides, he thought this had a bad influence upon the laity, as it seemed to exclude them from the pale of Chrift's church, and to give them a difpenfation for licentious practice. If they were not of Christ's church, they were not under Chrift's laws. He would therefore never have any idea fixed to the word church, but that of the whole body of Chriftians.- It would be very ferviceable to the caufe of Christianity, if Chriftians in general would efpoufe Wickliff's idea of the church of Chrift in its most enlarged fenfe; as comprehending, not only the clergy and laity of any particular communion, but the fincerely pious and virtuous in every denomination of Chriftians: If instead of being fond of confidering themfelves as Churchmen, Prefbyterians, Independents, Baptifts, or by any other difcriminating title, they would confider all who believe in Chrift, and endeavour to regulate their lives by his precepts, as fellow Christians, as members of the fame church, and disciples of the fame common Lord.

Wickliff was a warm affertor of the king's fupremacy; to prove which, he reasoned in this manner. Under the old law, we read that Solomon depofed one high priest, and ordained another, by his own proper authority, without the concurrence of any ecclefiaftical fynod; and in the New Testament, though we meet with no exprefs command on the point of the king's fupremacy, yet in general we are told that magiftrates are or

F 2

dained

:

dained of God to punish evil doers, and that without any limitation. If then they are ordained to punish evil doers, certainly they are, in the highest degree, bound to punish those who do the most evil: And who will contend, that the wicked priest is not a worfe citizen, than the wicked layman? Chrift (fays he) and his apoftles were obedient to the temporal powers then exifting And not to mention the many precepts of the gospelwriters on this fubject, which feem to be generally directed to all Chriftians ; we fee, in one place, our Saviour himself paying tribute to the emperor; and in another, anfwering before Pilate without claiming any exemption. He was very warm against those who maintained the Pope's fupremacy to be an article of faith. The faving faith of a Chriftian (fays he) confifts in believing that Chrift was the Meffiah: But the Roman church has multiplied articles of faith without number. It is not enough now to believe in Chrift; we must believe in the Pope of Rome. (d) The holy apoftles never afcribed to themselves any fuch honour: How then can a finful wretch require it, who knows not whether he fhall be damned or faved? if the Pope (fays he) fhould happen to be a wicked man, we profefs it as an article of our belief, that a devil of hell is head of the church; that he is the most holy father, infallible, and without fin, who poisons the principles of the church, and corrupts its practice, who contributes what he is able to banish out of it faith, meeknefs, patience, charity, humility, and ever other virtue of a Christian.

'.

Wickliff was likewife a ftrenuous oppofer of the authority claimed by the Romish church in matters of faith. It was a fcandal, he would fay, to the Chriftian church, that any of its

(d) Mr. Guthrie, in his hiftory of England, obferves, that by Wickliff's own belief, ftill extant in the Bodleian library, he allows the Pope an amending power, even in matters of faith; nay, he fuppofes that the Pope is, of all men on earth, the most bound to preferve the purity of the gofpel, because he is the higheft vicar of Chrift upon earth." The extract from this creed mentioned by Mr. Guthrie, and quoted by him, is here given, that the reader may be enabled to judge for himfelf, whether Mr. Guthrie's conclufions can fairly be inferred from it. And perhaps the attentive reader will be of opinion, that Wickliff does not in this affirm any thing of himfelf with refpect to the Pope's power of amending articles of faith; but rather admits it, for argument's fake, fit being a point infifted on by his ad

members

versaries,) in order to introduce what follows. Wickliff's words are: 'I

have joyfully to telle all trew men, the believe that I hold, and algatis to the Pope; for I fuppofe that if any faith be rightful, and given of 'God, the Pope will gladly conserve it; and if my faith be error, the Pope will wifely amend it. I fup'pofe over this, that the gospel of Chrift be part of the corps of God's • lawe. For I believe that Jefu Chrift, that gaf in his own perfoun this gofpel, is very God, and very mon, and be this bit paflès all other lawes, I fuppofe over this, that the Pope be moft oblifhed to the keeping of the gofpet among all inen that liven here; for the Pope is higheft vicar that Chrift has here on earth; for moreness of Chrift's vicars is not measured by worldly morenefs, but by this, that

members fhould fet up their own authority againft that of their Saviour. The great argument which was then used by the defenders of the authority of the church, was this: Many perfons, befides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, wrote gofpels; but the church rejected them all, excepting these four; and this it did by its own proper authority. It might by the fame authority have rejected thofe four gofpels, and have received others. It follows therefore, that the authority of the church is above that of any gofpel.To this artful reafoning Wickliff replied, that the evidence for the received gofpels was fo ftrong, and that for the rejected ones fo weak, that the church could not have done otherwife than it did, without doing violence to reafon. But the beft argument, he said, if it were proper to avow it,

it, for fupporting the authority of the church, was the neceffity of that doctrine to fupport the tyranny of the Pope. This was what made it worth defending at the expence of truth-In another place, fpeaking on the fame fubject, he fays, that the Pope would not fubmit his actions to the fame criterion, by which Chrift was contented to have his actions tried. If I do not, fays Chrift, the works of my Father which is in heaven, believe me not. But the Pope's authority, it feems, must be acknowledged, though he manifeftly does the works of the devil. Thus, fays he, Chriftians are in greater thraldom than the Jews under the old law; and that liberty, by which Chrift has made us free, is by the wickednefs of defigning men changed into the moft abfolute fpiritual bondage. The days, fays he, I hope, will come, when men fhall be wife enough to shake from their necks the dominion of these human ordinances; and dif dain fubmiffion to any ecclefiaftical injunctions, but fuch as are plainly authorized by the word of God.---It would have been well if the church of Rome, in this unjuft and abfurd claim to infallibility, and authority over the minds and confciences of men, which is here fo juftly oppofed by Wickliff, as it hath often fince been by later Proteftant writers, had not been too much imitated by many among Proteftants themselves; many of whom, at the fame time that they disclaim in words all pretenfions to infallibility, are too apt to caft the imputation of berefy on all those whofe fpeculative opinions do not square exactly with their own.

Wickliff acknowledged feven facraments; but is very inaccurate in his definition of a facrament, which he calls A token that may be feen of a thing that may not be feen. This vague idea of a facrament appears to have been univerfal among the writers in divinity, both before and after his time. But though he acknowledged feven facraments, he exprefsly fays, he does not efteem them all neceffary to falvation; and inveighs warmly against the many idle ceremonies used by the church of Rome, in the administration of them all; ceremonies, he fays, which have no ufe in themselves, nor any foundation in fcripture. When ceremonies are few and expreffive, he thought they might be of use; and enumerates, among others, kneeling and beating the breaft in prayer.

Baptifm he thought neceffary to falvation; which opinion he grounded upon this expreffion: Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. But he oppofed the fuperftition of three immerfions; and in cafe of neceffity, he thought any one prefent might baptize. The priest, he faid, in baptifm, (as indeed in all the other facraments) adminiftered only the token or fign; but God, who is the priest and bishop of our fouls, adminiftered the fpiritual grace.. Some account has already been given of his opinion of the facrament of the Lord's fupper; but though it appears from the

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